The Friday Five: December 16, 2011

Friday Five : ‘frī-(,)dā,-dē ‘fīv : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes, then share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we’ll have a guest, but most of the time it’s just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments.

Wait up, Bublé; make room for Ms. Deschanel. Okay, to be fair, I love this version. Despite a deep, burning—not unlike the time Dave Lifton’s mom gave me the clap—dislike for Will Farrell, I love the film it comes from. For more unbridled scorn of Zooey head over to Popdose for today’s installment of Jeff Giles’ & Jason Hare’s Mellowmas.

Doing a second-straight holiday themed Friday Five is now the most Christmas-y ting I’ve done so far:

1. “I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm” by Dean Martin from Ultra Lounge – Christmas Cocktails Vol. 1. OK, I think you get the idea that I like the more retro sounding Christmas music.
2. “O Come All Ye Faithful” by the Chieftans from The Bells of Dublin. I usually put this CD on for Christmas Eve
3. “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep” by DIana Krall from Christmas Songs. This one usually plays during Christmas dinner.
4. “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” by Dean Martin from Christmas with Dino. More retro! More Dino! I’m half Italian! I like martinis!
5. “Santa Baby” by Madonna from A Very Special Christmas. I never understood why if they wanted a Cyndi Lauper sounding take on this song, they didn’t just get Cyndi Lauper to do it.

Hope you hear something great, or at least not on the Mellowmas list, while you’re out shopping this weekend.

The tree is up, the lights are on, the shopping is (mostly) done, and I’m finally in the mood for an all-Christmas Friday Five shuffle. Enjoy!

Bing Crosby – “Do You Hear What I Hear?” (I Wish You a Merry Christmas, 1962 rereleased in 2006 as Bing Crosby Christmas Classics)
Few others do Christmas as well as Bing. ‘Nuff said.

Sixpence None the Richer – “Angels We Have Heard On High” (The Dawn of Grace, 2008)
We go from a crooner to the sweet, wispy voice of Leigh Nash (although her vocal style can take a bit of getting used to). Sixpence reunited after a four-year hiatus to release this set of Christmas songs.

Elvis Presley – “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” (Elvis’ Christmas Album, 1957)
I almost wish this one had been “Blue Christmas,” “Here Comes Santa Claus,” or “Santa Claus Is Back in Town” from the same album. Elvis definitely injected his own style into anything he did.

Phillips, Craig & Dean – “Go Tell It on the Mountain/Amen” (Repeat the Sounding Joy, 1996)
Upbeat, blue-eyed soul version of this old gospel spiritual by a CCM trio of pastors-turned-musicians.

Frank Sinatra – “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” (A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra, 1957)
Ol’ Blue Eyes’ take on this Christmas standard popularized by Bing Crosby is quite a bit different than the King’s interpretation, starting off like “Silent Night” before taking a left turn into the classic we all know and (should) love.

“Anything Can Happen” – The Finn Brothers. Living and dying in 5/4 time.
“My Dark Life” – Elvis Costello. A collaboration with Eno for “The X-Files.” Eno. X-Files. Someone tell me why this is still on my iPod? Oh, right. Costello.
“Meher Baba M4 (Signal Box)” – Pete Townshend. Instrumental from the Lifehouse sessions dug up for the Psychoderelict album.
“I Missed The Point” – Neko Case. One of the few country-tinged tracks from the album where she started to remove the twang. Love how it switches from a country two-step to a waltz about a quarter of the way through.
“Mess Around” – Redd Kross. For some reason I never got into them during my power pop fixation in the mid-90s, but I like this song.